Playing Deductions
by Neverland8
Summary: Henry is preparing to run away to find his mother. But he doesn't expect to run into a consulting detective on the way there. And the consulting detective isn't going to help matters... especially with breaking the curse. Rating may change, but will not go higher than T. All canon OUaT ships, and Sherlolly.
1. Playing Deductions (Prologue)

**(AN: Obviously I don't own Sherlock or Once Upon a Time. Also, this takes place right before Henry leaves to find Emma. Like, literally, about a few hours. Edited, and with cover design, by Nightstar Pheonix. This will probably be a one-shot, though I might continue if I get more ideas.)**

Playing Deductions

Henry skipped down the sidewalk, his backpack slung over his shoulders. However, instead of schoolbooks, he had several candy bars stuck at the bottom, and his fairytale book stacked on top. He didn't know how long he'd be gone, but he figured he was prepared. It wasn't like he'd need anything else. Once he found his mom, she'd come back with him and break the curse. Then everyone would be happy… except for the villains, of course, but villains didn't get happy endings. Heroes did. And the heroes needed happy endings.

Henry was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice somebody he was about to run into. He skidded to a stop right before he hit him. "Hi!" he grinned, trying to look inconspicuous.

The tall, dark-haired man looked down at Henry with his cold blue eyes, brushing off his long coat and adjusting his blue scarf. "Running away." he noted in his British baritone.

Henry's smile faltered, and his eyes widened. "Uh… no." he stammered.

"Yes, you are." he pointed at Henry's backpack. "You're carrying the bag rather easily, meaning that it's filled with little items, even though all the other schoolchildren your age have several, heavy schoolbooks, as well as materials to build a birdhouse. You're also heading the opposite direction of the school building."

Henry thought for a second, scanning the man and trying to think of which character in the book he was. "What's your name?" he asked.

"You don't need to know that." the man said. "But I do know that you are the Mayor's son, and I don't need to deduce that fact."

Henry nodded. It wasn't as if Regina kept it a secret that she adopted a child. He sat down on a bench and grabbed his storybook to flip through it. Curious, the man sat next to him. "What is that?" he asked after a few pages.

"A book." Henry stated bluntly. "A fairytale book."

The man pointed to a picture of a couple getting married. "That looks like your teacher."

"It is." Henry told him. "She's Snow White. And that's Prince Charming."

The man nodded. "So you think that Miss Blanchard is secretly Snow White."

"Not just her." Henry informed him. "Everyone here is a fairytale character. Except me, but I'm going to find the person who will break the curse."

"Curse?"

"Everyone here is under a curse." he said conspiratorially. "They can't remember who they are."

The man thought for a bit, a bemused expression on his face. "And our lives here?"

Henry smiled. The man probably didn't believe him, but at least he wasn't calling him crazy. "They're all fake." he said. "My mom, Regina, she's the Evil Queen, from Snow White, who set the curse. Think about it. Can you remember anything of your childhood?"

The man didn't respond. Henry grinned widely. It wasn't often he was taken seriously.

"Which fairytale character am I, then?" he asked.

"I'm trying to remember." Henry flipped through again, towards the end. He hit the back of the book.

The man pointed to some torn page corners. "You did that?"

Henry didn't ask how this was deduced. "You could say that. But I have them in here."

He pulled some pages out of the front pocket of his bag. He felt a little tense showing them to a stranger, but he doubted that he'd just grab them and run off to Regina. Besides, he'd just find a new hiding place later. Towards the end, he stopped. "There!" he pointed at a picture. It did look a lot like the man sitting next to him.

"And that is?"

"Sherlock Holmes."

"That's not a fairytale character."

"Well, neither are Jiminy Cricket or Pongo, and they're here, too."

"Are they?"

Henry nodded. "Yep."

"Sherlock" looked at him, raising his eyebrows. "And how does 'Sherlock Holmes' fit into the story?"

"He doesn't… exactly." Henry paused for a bit, then dove into the explanation he'd found in the book. "You see, when the Queen tried to enact the curse, but failed the first time, it instead opened a portal into your old world. You and a few other people got sucked in before it closed. You wandered around the forest for a bit until the curse actually worked. Nobody here knows who you are, and you know only the people you came with."

"Right then, I'll play along." Sherlock leaned back and crossed his arms. "Who came along with me?"

"John Watson." Henry told him. "He works in the hospital now. Before, he was your assistant. Then there was his wife, Mary. She's pregnant, but nobody knows where she is right now. And then there's–"

He cut off when a woman with a brunette ponytail walked by across the street. Sherlock stared after her, forgetting Henry for a moment. She glanced his way, then walked around the corner.

"That's Molly." Henry smiled. "You like her."

"No, I don't." Sherlock protested coolly.

"But she likes you."

Sherlock disregarded the statement. "And who's she, in your book?"

"She doesn't have another name." Henry told him. "She was from your world, too. And she also worked in a morgue."

"And how did… were the four of us friends?" Sherlock asked.

"John was your best friend." Henry told him. "And you got along pretty well with Mary. And you could say that you were friends with Molly." Henry smiled a smile that said I know better than you do.

Sherlock watched him for a bit and then turned away, smiling slightly. "Right. And you're running away to…"

"Find the person who will break the curse." Henry told him. "Her name's Emma Swan. She's the daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White. She's going to help you all remember your past lives."

"Will that work for us, then?" Sherlock asked. "We weren't from the fairytale world, were we?"

"But you were cursed, so there." Henry crossed his arms and smiled wider.

Sherlock nodded. "And I'm assuming I cannot convince you that this is fake, or that you shouldn't run away."

"Nope." Henry shook his head.

Sherlock shrugged. "Well, then, I suppose you need help leaving town."

"You can't leave." Henry informed him. "If you try to leave, then bad things will happen."

"I never said that I was going to leave." Sherlock said. "I'm a consulting detective, and I'm right in the middle of a case. They've finally allowed me to investigate this 'John Doe' in the hospital, though your mother's not too happy about it. But you'll probably need bus fare for the ride."

Henry slapped his forehead. "Forgot about that."

"You only remembered candy and your book, I'm sure." Sherlock nodded.

"And why would you help me?" Henry avoided Sherlock's question.

"It's been boring lately." Sherlock told him. He handed him a couple dollars. "You bring this 'cursebreaker' to town, and things could get interesting."

Henry smiled. He looked through the ripped pages until he got to the one about Sherlock. "You take this." he said, handing it to his new friend. "It might help you remember. Even if you give it to Regina, it doesn't have any information she might use against us."

"Us?"

"Me and my mom."

Sherlock nodded. "Oh, so the cursebreaker is your mother."

"Yep." Henry nodded.

"And she gave you up for adoption."

Henry avoided looking at him.

"And your schoolteacher is your grandmother. A little strange for you."

"I think it's cool." Henry stood up, deciding to go. "It was nice meeting you, Mr. Holmes."

"You could say that." Sherlock nodded.

Henry looked at Sherlock. "You think maybe later you could teach me that thing you do? Where you can figure out stuff about everyone."

"Maybe." Sherlock didn't look in the mood to help anybody. "Now go find your cursebreaker."

"Okay!" Henry ran off, smiling a lot more happily than he had before.

"And don't run into anyone else!" Sherlock yelled after him. After thinking for a moment, he stood up and went in a different direction than one he had intended on going. He stuck the page Henry gave him in his coat pocket on the way there.

* * *

"Hello, my name is Adrian Wiggin. I'm here to investigate a coma patient. Would you take me to him?"

The detective watched the volunteer sitting behind the desk in front of him. The short man wore a jumper underneath his white labcoat. He looked up at him, brushing his hand through his graying blonde hair.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Timothy Miles." he stood up, holding out his hand. "Which coma patient are you looking for?"

Adrian didn't answer, but instead looked down at him. "Afghanistan or Iraq?"


	2. Looking for Henry (Pilot)

**(AN: Wow, thank you for your reviews and favorites! Responses at the end of the chapter! Also, I might find a way to fit Moriarty in here, so if any of you have a name for him, that would be great.)**

Looking for Henry

Adrian was not surprised when he was called to the Mayor's house that night.

As Storybrooke's only Consulting Detective– in fact, the world's only Consulting Detective– Sherriff Graham usually came to him when he couldn't figure out a case, which was often. Adrian walked there, enjoying the sound of silence. There had never been any crickets in Storybrooke– or many bugs at all– and Adrian usually attributed it to the large number of birds that Mary Margaret kept outside the school building. After the run-in with Henry that morning…

Of course, the "Curse" was too insane to be real. Also, Henry had been in several psychiatry appointments recently (that was far too easily deduced), so it was probable that he was also mad. But still, Adrian couldn't shake the picture from Henry's storybook out of his head. It had looked just like him… and now that he thought about it, nobody he knew had ever successfully left the town, not that they'd wanted to. The only exception was Regina, when she had left to adopt Henry, but she had come back.

But the curse wasn't real; it was just a fairytale, like the ones Adrian grew up on. Or had he grown up on? He remembered barely anything about his childhood, except for his older brother, Kingsley, being a prat. Henry hadn't mentioned him, but Adrian hadn't read the pages yet so he couldn't be sure if Henry had forgotten or not. Where was Kingsley? Now that he thought about it, the Consulting Detective hadn't seen his brother in a long while. Finally, Adrian just put the question in the back of his Mind Palace and proceeded walking.

* * *

Once he reached the Mayor's house, he walked right inside. "You left the door unlocked." he announced as he walked in.

Regina Mills glanced at him from the kitchen table, where she was nervously setting out a bowl of apples. "You could have knocked." she pointed out.

Adrian shrugged. "Dull."

Graham looked at him from the table, his hands clasped together nervously. "Good. You're here. Do you know anything about where the boy's gone?"

"I have no idea." Adrian shrugged, sitting opposite the Sheriff. "Why don't you ask his mother?"

"If I knew where he went," Regina started pacing the kitchen, "I wouldn't have you here, now would I?"

Adrian didn't feel like challenging the mayor, so decided to deduce her instead._ Previously married or engaged, husband/fiancé died early on, blames somebody, father died a few years ago, mother missing, constantly looking for love..._ He glanced at Graham. _A__h... Nothing new._

"Is there anywhere he goes when upset?" Graham asked.

"If there is, I wouldn't know." Regina responded.

"Clubhouse of his, probably by the water." Adrian muttered, but the other two either didn't hear or didn't care.

"The point is, he's gone." Regina said to them. "If he left on a bus, he could be as far away as Boston by now."

_Actually, he's probably on his way back._

"Do you think any of his friends know anything?"

"He doesn't have friends, Sheriff. And if he did, they would've informed me. You know that they've all been scared of me since the first grade."

"Have they?" Adrian asked.

"Could he be at therapy?" Graham asked.

"Hopper said that he missed his session today." Regina responded.

"Think he could be in the forest?"

"Please. He knows far better than to go in there."

"So you think he left town."

"He's been under the impression that I'm an Evil Queen, and he's probably trying to get as far away as he can. I just figured that–"

"Why don't we ask Adrian?" Graham interrupted. He turned to the Detective. "You've been uncharacteristically quiet. You like to... correct us. Anything to say?"

Adrian listened for a moment. Leaning back in his chair, he held up three fingers. Slowly, he put one down. After a second, he put down another one. A second after that, he used the remaining finger to point to the door.

The sound of a car driving up came to everyone's attention.

Regina stood up hurriedly. Thanking Adrian and Graham for their time, she ran out to the door to greet her son.

Graham stared at Adrian for a bit. "How did you know that?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." Adrian stood up. "I'm going out the back. You might want to go after the mayor."

With that, he walked out, leaving a very confused sheriff behind him.

**(AN: Elsa Frost asked,**

**"Who is your favorite Disney Villain and Disney Villain's song and favorite Non-Disney Villain and Song, although most of the Non-Disney villains don't have songs, [but] a few do."**

**Well, that was a very long sentence, but my favorite Disney anything is usually from Frozen, but without spoiling that I have to say my favorite villain is Maleficent, because you never know anything about her or the extent of her powers or really if she even dies at the end, but yet she's just so darn awesome. My favorite Disney Villain Song is "Be Prepared." [Who's isn't?] My favorite Non-Disney villain is probably Nightmare Moon from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Yeah, I know that I'm a fan of both Sherlock and My Little Pony, but to its defense, MLP is still very well-written. And Nightmare Moon is awesome. And my favorite Non-Disney Villain song… again from MLP, but "This Day Aria." Does that count? I know Cadence sings in it, but Chrysalis is also in there. The song is just so good and I don't know why… but if you want to see it, just watch the video. And there is a YouTube video of the scene.)**


	3. Cursebreaker (TTYLM)

Cursebreaker

Emma was trying to be angry at Henry. She'd agreed to stay in town, but that didn't mean that she wanted to walk him to school or take part in his secret planning to break an imaginary curse. Still, it was hard to be mad at a kid that hopeful.

"How did you even get bus fare to come find me?" she asked her son as they walked down the sidewalk. "I doubt the driver would've accepted a credit card with the name of 'Mary Margaret.'"

"I have a friend." he said. He glanced around. "Have you ever read the Sherlock Holmes stories?"

"Yeah. A million times when I was a kid. Helped me a lot with my job." Emma glanced down at Henry. "To tell you the truth, I had a bit of a crush on Sherlock when I first started the books."

Henry's eyes widened. "Really?"

Emma slapped her forehead when she saw the look in his eyes. "Don't tell me Sherlock Holmes is here."

"Maybe." he grinned mischieviously.

"But he's not a fairytale character."

"That's what he said."

Emma gave him a look. "Don't tell him I said that."

"Said what?"

"That I used to have a crush on him."

"Does that mean you believe?"

"No, it just means that I don't want you telling him that. Alright?"

"Sure, sure." Henry looked ahead. "Look, Emma, there he is now! SHERLOCK! SHERLOCK!"

"Kid, are you insane?" Emma demanded of him.

The poor man that Henry had waved down glanced at them, looking confused for a moment. Then he walked down. "Oh, yes, I haven't told you my name, have I?" he asked.

"Nope." Henry shook his head.

"Hmm, I didn't exactly trust you then." the man said, extended his hand, "Adrian Wiggin."

"Wait, Wiggin?" Emma asked. "Like, Ender's Game?"

Adrian looked a little confused. "Is that one of the boys in your class?" he asked Henry.

"No, he's not in the book." Henry shook his head.

Adrian blinked at him for a minute. "That's not what I meant."

"I know." Henry glanced up at Emma. "This is my mom, Emma."

"Oh, yes, your 'cursebreaker.'" Adrian glanced at her. "Who was abandoned at the side of a freeway as an infant, kept in a foster home until you were three and then given up, has been running around for a long time, gave Henry up in a closed adoption to give him his best chance, had no idea he was arriving, has a job in tracking down missing people and also has not taken a great liking to the mayor."

Emma blinked for a minute, then turned to Henry. "Hey, you're right. Deductions. Like Sherlock Holmes."

"It's just my profession. I'm a Consulting Detective. I suppose that would make me a 'Real-life Sherlock Holmes.'" Adrian looked at Henry. "So you managed to get her here. Good. Things won't be boring anymore."

"Don't worry." Henry smiled up at him. "Before you know it, the curse will be broken and you'll remember everything."

"Right. Curse." Adrian looked at Henry a little curiously. "Your scarf."

"What about it?" Henry asked innocently.

"It's styled in a different way." Adrian noted.

"Uh… yeah." Henry looked around sheepishly. "I thought it looked better this way, and… yeah."

"And your collar is flipped up."

"It's windy." Henry grinned, discreetly flipping the collar back down.

"Right." Adrian sarcastically remarked, looking at the boy. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

"Emma's walking me." he informed the detective.

"Involuntarily." Emma noted. "And speaking of which, we have to go."

"Right." Henry nodded, then ran off. "See you later, Mr. Wiggin!"

Emma glanced at Adrian. "How did you know about me?"

"You were talking about Regina on the way over here, before you switched the topic, and you didn't look too happy about it." Adrian told her. "I could tell by the way you interacted kindly to Henry– or, as kindly as you could, given that he was screaming 'Sherlock Holmes' down the street– that you didn't give him up out of spite or discomfort. He was also born in jail, so I figured that giving him his best chance would be a good reason for putting him in adoption."

"And the rest of it?" Emma asked.

Adrian raised an eyebrow, as if he couldn't believe she didn't figure this out. "Henry told me your name before we left. I looked you up."

"Oh." Emma felt a little odd for not guessing that before.

"And you might want to know that Sidney Glass, a reporter, looked you up as well." Adrian smirked. "But the idiot didn't find anything remotely useful."

Henry poked his head around the corner. "Emma? Are you coming?"

"Be right there, kid." Emma called after him. She turned to the man standing in front of her. "Nice to meet you, Adrian."

"I'll see you around." Adrian nodded, beginning to walk off.

"Hey! I might not be staying very long!" Emma called after him.

"Wrong!" Adrian called back, before disappearing across the street.

Emma turned around to see Henry standing in front of her. "Sherlock Holmes, am I right?" Henry asked, beginning to walk.

"Might just be a fan." Emma shrugged.

"But he could be Sherlock Holmes."

Emma looked down at her son. "Sure, kid. He could be Sherlock Holmes."

"Great!" Henry grinned. "Now you can help me get him back with his friends! Starting with Dr. Watson!" Henry began marching in a new direction until Emma pulled him back.

"Whoa, kid, where are you going?"

Henry looked innocently up at her. "To find Dr. Watson."

"Henry, we don't have time to solve everybody else's problems." Emma told him. "I'll only be around for a week, remember?"

Henry laughed. "You'll believe me by then, and then you won't leave until you break the curse."

"Brilliant deduction." Emma muttered. "So, what's the deal with you and your mom?"


	4. A Game of Imagination(The Price of Gold)

**(AN: Right, I should probably explain that we do NOT ship Swanlock before we continue. Sherlolly is too cute for that, sorry. I'm going to do a chapter for each episode [the first one was kind of a prologue, I guess]. I need some ideas for "That Still Small Voice" and "The Shepherd," which are the next two chapters. I think I have ideas for after that. And thank you for your reviews!)**

A Game of Imagination

Emma ran out of Granny's. If she went as fast as she could, she could reach Ashley before she left town. What she didn't expect to see when she got out was Henry and Adrian standing outside with Henry's book.

"What are you doing?" Emma asked.

Henry looked up. "Deducing." he told her.

"Deducing what?" Emma shook her head. "No, actually, I don't want to know. Henry, you were supposed to go back to your house. Go on."

Henry looked at Adrian, grabbed his book, and ran off behind Emma. That wasn't the general direction of the mayor's house, but before Emma could call out, Adrian shouted, "Look! Emma! A bird!"

Emma turned around. Adrian was pointing at thin air. "I don't see anything." she said.

"Exactly!" Adrian crossed his arms and smirked. Emma looked behind her. Henry was already gone.

She turned back to the detective. "So, what exactly were you doing?"

"Like your son said, deducing." Adrian nodded. "We've been looking through his book to try to decide which characters are in this land."

"Great, so you believe in this stuff, too." Emma rolled her eyes.

"Well, I've thought long and hard about it." Adrian explained. "And I've decided that, even if it's not real, it's certainly not boring either. You don't believe, I take it."

"Of course not. It's just a book of fairytales." Emma told him. "You're just encouraging it; he's gonna keep thinking that it's all real."

"You never know; it might be." Adrian smirked. "And in all honesty, the people in Henry's book do look like the residents of Storybrooke."

"Coincidence." Emma shrugged. "And I really… really have to go, so, I'll see you around."

"Took the job from Gold, did you?" Adrian asked as Emma turned around to leave.

Emma paused. She looked back at Adrian. "And how did you figure that out?"

"Because he came to me first." Adrian told her. "And I told him, in no uncertain terms, NO."

"Why?" Emma asked skeptically.

"Because he annoys me. I can't figure him out."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Right. Well, considering that job that I have to do, I have to go. Now."

"She won't get past the town line!" Adrian called after her. "You know that!"

Emma didn't respond, but instead got into her car and drove off towards the edge of the town.

Adrian watched until Emma's car disappeared around the bend. _I hope,_ he thought, _Henry was able to get into Emma's car while we were talking._

**(AN: Elsa Frost asked:**

**"Who is your favorite OUAT character and which one do you think you are most like?"**

**Well, my favorite is totally Henry. He's just the most adorable little thing until Season Three happens. Why did he have to grow up? :( And I took the buzzfeed quiz and got Snow White, which I guess is cool.)**


	5. Umbrellas (That Still Small Voice)

**(AN: Okay, so later in this I put in some specific piano notes. I'm not sure if these are the right ones [though I did find them online], so if not, or if I wrote it wrong PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE inform me so I can fix it.)**

Umbrellas

One wouldn't expect Archibald Hopper and Adrian Wiggin to be friends. For one thing, Dr. Hopper was often described as a Conscience, pure and simple. Adrian seemed to have no conscience whatsoever. But after the town's residents kept calling him a psychopath, Adrian was pressured into going to Dr. Hopper, who later assured the townspeople that he was not a psychopath, but a high-functioning sociopath. Since then, though Adrian had opted out of going to therapy ever again, he respected Hopper above anyone else in his life. So when Dr. Hopper arrived at Adrian's door one day, Adrian let him in and treated him to unrelenting violin music. After a while, Adrian seemed to realize that Archie had something on his mind, and decided to start a conversation. "My brother likes umbrellas as much as you do." he informed him.

"Is that a fact?" Archie asked.

"Yes." Adrian thought for a second. "Where is my brother?"

There was another silence. Well, as silent as room with Adrian's violin in it can be. Finally, Adrian asked, "Got into trouble with Henry, I'm sure."

Dr. Hopper nodded, not stopping to ask how he knew that; he had been "friends" with Adrian for too long for that. "Mayor Mills told me to call him off of his belief in the curse. I'm afraid I did so rather bluntly, and he ran off very upset."

"And Regina threatened you to make you adjust your course of therapy?" Adrian guessed, not ceasing his violin playing.

"I guess." Archie sighed. "What did I do? He walked out of my office, obviously upset. And I think he might be planning to investigate the mines."

"About time someone did." Adrian shrugged.

Archie didn't respond to this. He had long since given up trying to change Adrian's opinion on things.

"Well, Regina threatened you." Adrian continued. "I think it's about time someone threatened her."

Archie blinked, very confused by this point. "Threaten Regina?"

"Exactly." Adrian nodded.

"H-how would someone threaten Regina?" Archie asked. "First of all, that's illegal."

"Makes it more interesting."

"Second, how on earth would anyone threaten her? She has all the power over here."

"Here, yes. In court, no." After noticing Archie's confusion, Adrian sighed and reluctantly put his violin down. "Listen, Doctor Hopper, after a while, Miss Swan will decide that she wants her son back, and the matter will be brought to court. And what the court will do is consult someone who's had experience with the child. And who has more experience than a therapist?"

Finally, Archie realized what Sherlock was talking about. "Oh." he thought this over. "I… I'm not exactly sure about that. Threats are illegal, Adrian, and not everyone is so relaxed about it as you are."

"Think it over as long as you want." Adrian told him, taking up his violin again. "Just listen to your conscience. That's what normal people do, isn't it?"

Only a little while later, Archie decided to go back to his office. Once he was gone, Sherlock could pay more attention to his violin playing. He was playing a waltz. The first notes seemed to be a High C, High C, G, High C, High G, High F, High G, High E, High D. Strange. He wondered where he'd learned it.

**(AN: Alright, so in case I wrote it wrong, or you didn't get it, that was the Waltz for Mary and John. :D Oh, and while I was gone, I became a Whovian. Yay.)**


	6. A Very Non-Enjoyable Party(The Shepherd)

**(AN: Right, now, this one's really short, so I have to chapters for you. :D)**

A Very Non-Enjoyable Party

"You don't look like you're enjoying yourself, Adrian."

Adrian glanced down at his friend, Timothy. "Of course not. I'm still attempting to prove that there's some sort of hoax going on."

"What? You think she–" Timothy gestured to Kathryn, David's life, who was having a conversation with her uncle, "–is lying about this whole thing?"

Adrian observed Kathryn for a second; the girl was smiling joyfully, glancing at David every other second. "Intentionally, no."

"Intentionally? What's that supposed to mean?" Timothy asked skeptically.

Adrian didn't respond, instead watching David. "Oh."

"'Oh' what? Are you going to say anything?"

It took a moment for Adrian to respond. "David's still in love with Mary Margaret. He's looking for her. She didn't show up, mostly because _she_ still likes _him_. I'm sure David will go to look for her in a bit."

"Oh, well that's certainly uplifting." Timothy rolled his eyes. "Gabbing about a man having an affair the day he gets back from the hospital."

"I'm not the one making his life choices; I'm only the one guessing what they are." Adrian defended himself. "Besides, I have enough tact not to tell Kathryn that."

"Tell me _what _now?" Both men jumped when they noticed Kathryn was standing behind them. She had only just arrived, and gave them both suspicious glances.

"Tell you that–" Timothy paused, then gestured to Adrian. "Adrian here just _loves_ these muffins. Don't you, Adrian?"

Adrian opted to shoot Timothy a death-glare instead of affirming this.

"And you know how he is with compliments." Timothy continued. "He'd probably just end up upsetting the party."

"Oh." Kathryn's cautious gaze dropped. "Thank you."

Adrian nodded as Kathryn ran off to ask Spencer if he'd seen David. Adrian turned to Timothy. "It had to be the muffins, didn't it?"

"What's wrong with the muffins?" Timothy asked.

Adrian then launched into a rant. "They're undercooked by five degrees fahrenheit and Kathryn added too much flour as well as–"

Adrian abruptly stopped talking when Timothy stuffed a muffin in his mouth.


	7. Memories (THIALH)

Memories

"Adrian?"

This was the third time Sheriff Graham had called the Consulting Detective's Name. Adrian was slowly pulled out of his Mind Palace, though very unhappily. "Hello, Sheriff. Which is it?"

Confused, Graham asked, "Which what?"

"Which of your excuse for bothering me today are you using?" Adrian inquired. "Do you have a stupid case for me to solve or are you conducting a drugs bust?"

"When have I conducted a drugs bust on you?"

"Am I under arrest or not?"

Graham sighed. Sometimes the Detective could be so annoying. "No, you are not under arrest, and I do not have a case for you."

"Dang." Adrian groaned. "This town can be _so_ dull."

"As opposed to what?" Graham asked, sitting down on a chair across from Adrian's.

Adrian paused, as if trying to find something in his memories. He finally settled on, "Why are you asking?"

"Henry." Graham muttered. "Henry's book… the one with the fairytales in it… I think it's all true."

"Really?" Adrian looked at him. "And you came to this conclusion how?"

"Memories." Graham said. "Starting when–" he stopped here. Perhaps it wasn't wise to inform the least tactful person in Storybrooke that he kissed Emma. "I keep getting flashes. Flashes of a different life. I remember wolves… and… I was about to hurt Mary Margaret."

Adrian nodded. "And you've been to see Mary Margaret already?"

Graham nodded. "She told me about Henry's book. I've seen you and Henry before with the book, when I drove by Granny's on the day Emma became deputy. I didn't want to directly ask the boy, but–"

"You should." Adrian interrupted. "Directly ask him, I mean."

Graham paused.

"Regina doesn't have to know." Adrian told him. "I saw her heading towards the Sheriff's station just a few minutes ago. She hasn't returned, so I assume she was looking for Emma. After that, she'll probably come here. You have enough time to ask Henry everything you want to know. Besides, I deleted most of the book anyway. I wouldn't know anything."

Graham highly doubted that Adrian would delete something that a friend built his life upon, but he nodded anyway.

"Well, hurry along, then." Adrian told the Sheriff. "You don't have _that_ long."

"Thank you." Graham told him before going out.

The door slammed shut. _I should probably remember to lock it._ Adrian thought. Then he said to himself, "Huntsman."


	8. Meeting Molly Hooper (Desperate Souls)

Meeting Molly Hooper

"Why are we at the morgue again?"

Emma glanced down at Henry, who failed to add his usual optimism to his question. Instead, he opted to kick at the dirt. Graham's death had a big effect on Henry, who was convinced that Regina had killed him using magic. "We're here to show you that Graham died of pure natural causes, not magic."

"Go ahead and try." Henry muttered.

Undaunted, Emma strolled into the Storybrooke Morgue (she was still surprised that one existed) and showed her deputy badge to the girl behind the desk. "We're here to investigate the body of Sheriff Graham." her voice broke slightly, but she shook it off.

"Room 25." the girl told her. "He's on Molly Hooper's list."

Henry glanced up at the girl's name, but quickly looked to his shoes again.

"Right. Let's go." Emma grabbed Henry's hand and walked down the hall. She was slightly surprised to see a woman waiting outside of the room with a clipboard. She had her brunette hair in a ponytail, and glanced up skittishly as the mother and son approached. "I-I'm sorry." she called with a British accent. "You can't go in there right now."

Emma, in response, held up her deputy badge. "I'm Emma Swan, and this is Henry."

"Hi, Molly Hooper." Henry greeted, still staring at the floor. "You always counted, you know."

Molly seemed surprised at this response, but nodded to Emma. "I– I suppose you could go in, but there's something you should know first."

Emma didn't listen, instead flinging open the door and going into the room. She took two steps before going full-stop. "Adrian?"

The Consulting Detective in question glanced up from the Sheriff's corpse, completely unalarmed at what he was doing. "Hello, Miss Swan. Why are you here?"

"I might ask the same about you." Adrian watched her warily. "And you brought a ten-year-old boy, too."

"Was I right?" Henry asked. "Was it magic?"

"Oh, so that's why you brought him." Adrian nodded. "I can't find any 'magic', Henry. It looks as Miss Hooper said: Heart attack."

Emma turned around and gave Molly a glare. Molly, who was standing by the door, joined Henry in staring at the floor. "That's what I was going to tell you." she whispered. "Adrian came in a few minutes before you did."

"I'm investigating the death." Adrian shrugged.

"Who gave you permission to do that?" Emma inquired, hoping that his answer wasn't Regina.

"I did." Adrian informed her. He turned to Molly. "Thank you. Now that I'm done, I think I'll be going now."

Molly positively glowed at the words of gratitude. Emma turned to Henry. "You see, kid? Natural causes."

"Whatever." was the response she got.


	9. Broken Compass (True North)

**(AN: I need plotlines for the episode "Skin Deep." And after that, I need a name for a famous Consulting Criminal. XD It's not going to be too important, though, but I REALLY need Skin Deep. K? Thanks!)**

Broken Compass

"I hate to say this, but I need your help."

Adrian looked up as Emma Swan walked into his apartment. "How did you know which room I was in?"

Emma gave him a look.

"Ah, yes. 221, like 221b Baker Street. You got that from Henry."

"I'm actually kind of surprised that the kid was right. You didn't lock your door." Emma pointed out.

"I rarely do." Adrian told her. "Why did you come?"

Emma tossed something at him. Adrian reached up and caught it, then inspected it, turning it over. "A Compass. And you gave this to me because…?"

"There are these two kids here– Ava and Nicholas Zimmer? Do you know them?"

"No."

"They're living on their own, and have been since their mother died." Emma explained. "We need to find their father or Regina is going to send them off to foster homes in New York and they'll be separated. I promised these kids that they wouldn't be, and–"

"The man gave this to the mother on an outdoor trip." Adrian exposed in his best 'Sherlock Holmes' voice, as Henry called it. "He gave it to her as a present and is currently unaware of his children's existence. He works with cars, or at least did."

Emma shook her head. "There is no way you could know that."

Adrian held up the compass. "The're still a little bit of dirt on the glass, so it was outdoors at some point. It's a very expensive artifact, meaning that it probably wasn't taken outside too often. Aside from the dirt and broken compass, it has been held in very high regard, so it was probably a gift. The fact that he gave something so expensive to this woman, he must have loved her very much, meaning that he wouldn't simply abandon her, and he wouldn't intentionally abandon their children. The location of the manufacturer on the back of the compass also specialises in car parts– the man probably doesn't care much for things of this quality, so he had to be introduced to it somehow."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure."

"You came here for help." Adrian pointed out. "If you don't believe me, go to Mr. Gold. He'll give you the same information."

"Thanks anyway." Emma grabbed the compass and walked out. Adrian paused a second, then followed her out.

Emma walked out of Mr. Gold's pawn shop, and stared at Adrian, who was casually leaning against the building. "Well?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

Emma groaned and walked away.


End file.
